2yS EVOLUTION AND MANKIND. 



extremely misleading if applied t(^ any other set of data tlrui 

 those from which they were derived. 



Is the struggle for existence in any sense, whether of war 

 or otherwise, a scientific law? It may be stated at once that 

 Huxley, from 1859 till the end of his life, was consistent in con- 

 sidering natural selection as no more than an illuminating hypin 

 thesis. Thus, in 1894, before the Royal Society, he said 



I nm as convinced now as I was thirty-four year as^o, that the theory 

 propounded liy Mr. Darwin, I mean that whicli he propounded, not tliat 

 whicli has l)een reported to be liis by too many ill-instructed, both friends 

 and foes, has never been shown to ))e inconsistent with any positive 

 observations, and still holds the held as the only hypothesis at present 

 before us which has a sound scientific foundation. . . . But I do not 

 know, I do not think anyone knows, whether the particular view he held 

 will be hereafter fortified by the experience of the ages which come after 

 us. • . . Whether the particular form in which he has now put before 

 us the Darwinian doctrines may be such as to be destined to survive or 

 not, is more, I venture to think, than anybody is capable at the present 

 moment of saying. 



The op|X)rtunity of Natural Selection occurs because of the 

 existence f;f variations, that is, because of the observed fact that 

 individuals of the same parentage are not identical. The.se 

 variations may be small and continuous, or large, sudden and 

 discontinuous, and so may account for new species. The terms 

 Evolution and Natural Selection have been confused under the 

 term Darwinism. EvoluticMi, indeed, as the mode of organic 

 progress, has been accepted as almost a scientific law. but Natural 

 Selection is only a hypothesis, providing a reasonable suggestion 

 as to how evolution may come about. In other words " the 

 scientific world is a.greed about evolution ; it is not agreed about 

 Natural Selection. It is merely ludicrous to assert that Natural 

 Selection and the struggle for existence have any claims to be 

 regarded as scientific law." The German claim, as expressed by 

 Bernhardi, fails, because Natural Selection is not a law. and even 

 if it were a law 't does not follow that one derived from a .study 

 of animals and plants is applicable to man. The phrase " struggle 

 for existence " was used by Darwin in a metaphorical sense, for 

 in the first edition of his " Origin of Species " ( 1859) he wrote, 

 T 1- -1^1 T^-emise that I use the term ' struggle for existence " hi 

 a large and metaphorical setise. including the dependence of one 

 being on ant)ther." Chalmers Mitchell has well said : 



One sjjccies is not supposed to advance in serried ranks against 

 another, wolves a.gainst l)ears. eagles against vultures, firs against 

 beeches, and so forth. The competition is internal, amongst the individuals 

 of a species. . . . It was only later, when poets and popular writers 

 got to work, that the struggle for existence acquired the special significance 

 of fierceness and cruelty, became an expression of Nature " red in tooth 

 and claw.'"*' 



Darwin extended the idea of Malthus, as expressed in the 

 "Essay on Population" (1798) to organisms in general. All 

 organisms tend to multiply at a rate that would rapidly outstrip 

 the fcx>d supply. Darwin considered that on the average the 



* Chalmers Mitchell, " Evolution and the War," pp. 22, 23. 



